


Ghosts That We Knew

by XtaticPearl



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, BAMF Rhodey, BAMF T'Challa (Marvel), Bucky Barnes Remembers, Canon Divergence - Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Spoilers, Epic Friendship, F/M, Fix-It, Forgiveness, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Getting Together, Guilt, Hurt Tony Stark, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, Lovers to Friends, M/M, Major Character Injury, Physical Therapy, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Power Of BFFs, Protective Rhodey, Protective Steve Rogers, Rhodey Feels, Sam Wilson Feels, Steve Rogers Feels, Team Dynamics, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Vision Feels, a bit - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-07-28 10:51:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7637251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XtaticPearl/pseuds/XtaticPearl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were chasing Sam, trying to get him to stop flying away and Rhodey decided to end it quickly. He didn't want to hurt him, he obviously wouldn't want to hurt his team-mates too harshly, but if they didn't put a stop to this soon, things would escalate. It was with that thought in mind that Rhodey told Vision to hit Falcon's jet-pack and make him a glider. He didn't expect Sam to do an air-roll and escape it.<br/>Battle instincts made him dive and escape the beam himself. Tony though, was a tad slower and Rhodey saw in horrifying terror as the red and gold suit fell from the sky.</p><p>A CACW divergence, where Tony gets hit instead of Rhodey and how that changes the entire game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. We All Fall Down

**Author's Note:**

> I had discussed this with a friend before and just got around to starting it. I hope I do justice to this because it is AWESOME in my head. I love Rhodey (just as everybody should) and I LOVE IT when he brings on his badassery (which he does everytime he comes on fic or screen). I hope you guys enjoy this <3 The title comes from the Mumford & Sons song of the same title. I love Mumford & Sons and this song was playing when I wrote so...here it is :D

Rhodey hated it when people didn't use their heads despite having good brains. It was a waste of potential and the Colonel had seen enough people without potential messing things up to allow actual potential to get wasted. The Avengers were a good bunch of people, with high potential to help people. To save the world. To be the responsible line of clarity between the bad and good.

And now they were all over the place, fighting each other like kids. Rhodey wanted to smack them all for that, especially the Captain.

"Goddamit Natasha" he heard Tony swear on the comm and recognized the Quinjet flying across the sky, putting the dots together to realize that Natasha had let Steve go. He couldn't dwell on that for long though when he saw Falcon soar and follow Steve, giving cover. In a synchronized move, both Rhodey and Tony flew up, trying to catch the winged Avenger.

Rhodey knew logistics of battle and easily gathered that the others would be left trapped back at the airbase but he found it hard to feel sorry about that at the moment. They were clear idiots if they had thought that Ross would let them go without resistance. Now there would be a JSOC team and things would go to shit, which was exactly what Tony had tried to avoid. He put that out of his mind for the moment and focused on what lay ahead.

They were chasing Sam, trying to get him to stop flying away and Rhodey decided to end it quickly. He didn't want to hurt him, he obviously wouldn't want to hurt his team-mates too harshly, but if they didn't put a stop to this soon, things would escalate. It was with that thought in mind that Rhodey told Vision to hit Falcon's jet-pack and make him a glider.

He didn't expect Sam to do an air-roll and escape it.

Battle instincts made him dive and escape the beam himself. Tony though, was a tad slower and Rhodey saw in horrifying terror as the red and gold suit fell from the sky.

"Tony!" he shouted and tried to get Friday to take over, "Friday, can you stop the fall?"

"I am afraid I have lost control of the suit, sir," the AI replied in concern.

"Tony!" he yelled again and put in his all, pushing his own suit to the maximum as he dashed to the ground in an attempt to catch him. He noted Sam fly in too but couldn't lose sight of the free-falling Iron Man.

"Rhodes, I can't -- Friday -- Deadweight, Rhodes!" Tony's voice came in through the static as the suit rushed to the ground and Rhodey pushed on, willing his suit to exert every burst of energy it had to get there on time.

And then Tony crashed into the earth, leaving a considerable sized crater around him.

"TONES!" Rhodey yelled, landing a minute after him, crashing to his knees beside the fallen red suit. He clambered to rip the faceplate off Tony, "Tones? Tony! C'mon man! Friday, scan! Scan for pulse and injuries!"

"Vitals are unstable. Pulse is falling," Friday informed him in a terrified tone that did not belong to AIs.

Out of the corner of his eye, Rhodey saw Sam crash landing too, running up to him the last few steps before stopping awkwardly.

"Rhodes, I'm so sorry ..." he said in a shaky and sincere voice but Rhodey didn't care goddammit.

"Don't" he said shortly and pressed in his comm to call for back-up just as Vision came into his line of sight.

"I need medical right now!" he ordered into his comm, barking at the agent on the other side of the line, "It's Iron Man, he's down. Get in here stat!"

Pressing in his location on the tracker of his suit, he waited for the medics to come, positioning Tony's head on his lap.

"Tony? Hey, idiot, come on, wake up," he tried in a slightly hoarse voice, staring at the lifeless looking and slightly bloodied face of his best friend, "Don't you dare do this right now, Tones. You gotta wake up, alright?"

"Rhodes ..." Sam said softly and Rhodey shook his head hard, not looking up at Sam even though the guy had come closer and was now standing over them, "Rhodes, man come on, you can't move him too much, okay? We don't know how hard the hit was." Sam reasoned calmly, a gentle tone to his voice, "You need to keep him still, Jim. Come on, Colonel. Get your head in the game."

Vision was standing stock still a few feet away and Rhodey could not, absolutely could not look at him right now. He would blast the hell out of the android right away if he saw him in his current hysteria.

"Rhodes, the medics are here," Sam informed him and slowly but surely placed a hand on his shoulder. Rhodey stiffened in his suit for a second but Sam didn't move his hand and patted his shoulder once before keeping his hand there till the first medic rushed out from the chopper.

He was used to situations like this, hell, he had seen worse in his missions. But he had never seen Tony look so... _dead_. And that thought was lodged hard in a space where the logical Colonel Rhodes couldn't do anything about. He stared at Tony's body and tried to curb his emotions but all that led to was internalized panic. Something he didn't realize till Sam crouched in front of him and made him look at him.

"He's going to be fine," Sam said firmly, holding Rhodey's gaze, "You hear me? He's going to be fine. The man is stubborn as hell, Jim. You know that. He's going to be fine, okay? But you need to stop panicking. You need to get up and help out. Alright? Hey, hey look at me! You need to stop making this about yourself. Come on, Jim, breathe."

Rhodey breathed in and out in shuddering huffs of air, enough to get his little panic under control and pulled away from Sam.

"I'm fine," he grit out even though he could see that Sam saw through the lie but he spoke on, "And you're in big trouble, dumbass."

Sam looked stunned for a minute before realization struck him and he looked to his left to see JSOC guys come in to take him. He breathed out in a sigh and turned back to stare at Rhodey.

"Yeah, it looks like I am," he said simply and Rhodey cursed under his breath, glaring at Sam reproachingly because all this could have been avoided dammit. When Sam elbowed an agent in the stomach on being man-handled a little too much, Rhodey snapped at both of them.

"Agent, stop that unless you want your head blasted off. He's an Avenger, he'll do it," he barked and glared at Sam next, "Wilson, shut up and go. It's...just please shut up and go for once."

He didn't know why Sam stopped at that and he didn't know why Sam's eyes fell for a moment but things came under control and that was all Rhodey had the energy for at the moment. Without a backward glance, he powered his suit and followed the chopper in which Tony was being carried away, feeling Vision come along at his heels. He didn't care. He would snarl at him later. Right now, he just had Tony on his mind.

Even Friday kept unusually quiet as they flew towards the hospital, to get Tony back. Alive.

***

Spinal injury. The words were ringing in his head and Rhodey clenched his hands again as he stared at Tony being pulled into another scan. The doctor had hinted at a possible spinal injury.

"How did this happen?" he breathed out, knowing that the person he intended the question for was just behind him.

"I was ... distracted," Vision replied and Rhodey turned around, staring at him incredulously.

"Distracted," he echoed before asking with a scoff, "Distracted?  **You** were distracted? You, the person with a 100% accuracy and fastest brain. You got distracted. What the hell? You're telling me that's possible?"

"It appears so," Vision replied and Rhodey would have socked him in the jaw if he could not read the concern in the android's blue eyes contrasting his cold statement. Vision had always been unapologetically logical in his talk and this time was no different apparently. 

"Yeah, could you manage not to be 'distracted' enough to watch him for a while?" Rhodey bit out bitterly, despite himself and Vision looked at him for a moment before nodding calmly. Rhodey didn't bother explaining himself and walked out of the place, needing air.

He wanted to punch something. Or someone. Hard and right away. The visual of Tony falling ran on loop in front of his eyes and Rhodey wanted to get rid of it. Dragging a hand over his face, he turned to the side and caught sight of the last person he had expected.

Natasha stared at him with a worried look from the door. Rhodey's eyes hardened and he held her gaze for a moment before stalking out to the balcony area. He needed more air, preferably air that wasn't shared by anyone who had betrayed them. He breathed in deep and let a part of his stress go, hands curled around the metal railing in front of him.

"How is he?" he heard a female voice and Rhodey let out a bitter chuckle.

"You really wanna know?" he asked rhetorically and Natasha came to stand beside him, staring up at him.

"Yes," she replied, for once not saying anything snappish or witty in reply. Rhodey considered his options before breathing out the words.

"Doc says that there's possibility of a spinal injury," he said, "His heart seems weak too though apparently."

"Yeah, he complained of pains earlier," Natasha replied and this made Rhodey look at her with a frown, "Before, when Barnes went..."

"Crazy?" Rhodey offered dryly.

"Catatonic," Natasha settled on with a small quirk of her lips, "After we tried to stop him, Tony said something about his left side hurting and he kept rubbing at his chest."

Rhodey's eyes widened before they narrowed.

"And you thought it wise to not tell anyone about this before?"

"He's a grown man, Rhodes," Natasha reminded him, "He said he was fine after some time."

"Yeah, well, apparently people lie a lot nowadays," Rhodey huffed sardonically and Natasha raised an eyebrow but then looked forward and changed the topic.

"Steve isn't going to stop," she said quietly and Rhodey snorted.

"Yeah? I'll make sure to use my best barriers"

"Rhodey, we took this too far," she said calmly, "We played this wrong. You know that."

"No, I don't," Rhodey shot back and turned to stare at her, "But apparently you do, so why don't you tell me?"

"We need to make sure that Steve doesn't end up doing something too drastic"

"Really? Because everything he has done till now has been moderate and well-thought out," Rhodey replied sarcastically and Natasha's jaw ticked for a minute before her eyes softened.

"If we don't stop this now, Tony might be our best case scenario"

"Tell me something, Natasha," Rhodey began coolly, staring hard at her, "Why'd you let them go?"

"Rhodes, you've got to -"

"No, you know what? I don't," he cut her short hard, "I don't have to do anything. If anybody has to do anything, it's you here. You need to explain to me why you thought it was okay to let them go when you were  _with_ us in deciding to bring them in. You need to explain to me why you thought it was right to change your stance  _mid-fight_ and put us at risk. Us, people who trusted you to have our backs. You need to explain why you decided to do a 180 on us without so much as a warning. Because I DON'T fucking understand you and your bullshit right now."

"Can you for one second get over yourself and understand what's happening right now?" Natasha countered and Rhodey laughed.

"Really? You brought T'Challa in. You did, Natasha, not Tony. You called the Black Panther in to fight and you yourself betrayed him in the end," Rhodey pointed out with a raised eyebrow, "What's happening right now, _Natasha_ , is probably the new king of Wakanda telling Ross about your little trick and a JSCO team coming in hot to take you. That's what's happening. And honestly? With your level of oscillating decisions and opinions? I don't think you've got much of a chance."

"I'm not the one who has to watch my back right now, Rhodes," she replied coolly and turned around, "We've hurt one of our own. If possible, lets not do the same to the others."

With that last shot, she walked away, leaving Rhodey on his own. Rhodey shook his head and turned back to face the open field when his phone pinged an alert.

"What's this, Fri?" he asked as a photograph was projected of a dead man.

"This is the doctor assigned to speak with Mr. Barnes by the UN, sir," the AI replied and Rhodey stilled, his mind running fast at the implications even as Friday continued, "It seems that he was murdered earlier today and left in his bathroom. I just received the photograph and identification from the police."

"Then who was the guy who came in?" Rhodey wondered out loud to himself and stared at the picture before making a decision and turning on his heels.

***********

Rhodey respected Secretary Ross. He really did. Like he had told Sam earlier, when they had still been a team, the man had gotten a Congressional Medal of Honor and that was no joke. He got that for his service to the country. The country Rhodes and Sam had sworn to protect. So yes, Rhodey respected Ross.

But he did not understand what he was seeing right now. The Raft, if Rhodey's memory served him right, was a set-up built to hold supervillains and criminals on the top list of terrorism. The Raft was a specially designed holding prison for hardened criminals who were internationally wanted. The Raft was a supermax-underwater floating prison.

It was not where people like the Avengers should be put, even by protocol.

"This is a step beyond," he commented as he entered the prison and Ross greeted him.

"Yes, well, with two of them loose, we can't really risk everything, can we Colonel?" Ross replied and Rhodey had to hold in a frown at the flippant response. He agreed that they had broken the law and they needed to be restrained but -

The Raft was overblown even by the highest standard he could imagine.

He kept the thought to himself though, focusing on getting through with the mission he had come with. He nodded at the right times, smiled politely, shook the right hands and waited till he was given the authority to go into the main holding complex.

As soon as he entered the cell matrix, he observed around himself and almost winced at the sight of Wanda being kept in a straightjacket. That was against human rights for sure, wasn't it? The collar around her neck blinked a red light and his mind ran technicalities of how it could work if she showed even the slightest resistance. It was inhumane and Rhodey cursed Rogers even more for bringing things to this extent. They could have sorted it all out better and easier, but no, Captain America  **had** to be judge and jury all the time.

Taking a deep breath he turned around but was stopped by the sound of someone clapping. He looked and saw Clint in his cell, standing near the bars and clapping mockingly at Rhodey.

"The law-man, people! The law-man is here! Everything is below the law to him, even his friends and team. No matter how wrong the law may be, he's going to stick by it," Clint jeered, "What's up, Rhodes? Here to read the riot act to us?"

"You're here because of your own actions, Barton," Rhodey shot back with a calm expression, "Stop whining and take responsibility for your choices, for once."

"Ooooh, big words and bigger thoughts," Clint mocked, "So this is where people who do the right things land, according to your 'responsible' laws, huh, Rhodes? In a prison meant for criminals?"

"Yeah, I don't have time for your shit," Rhodey rolled his eyes and walked forward, ignoring Clint's taunts about watching their back around such team-mates.

"You know, Hank Pym always said never to trust a Stark," the new guy of Cap's team mused from his cell and Rhodey was in his face before he could think about it.

"Hey, Chump? You're still in your diaper-stage around here. Don't mouth off when you can't teeth," he warned and the guy opened his mouth to retort when Rhodey bared his teeth and new guy thought better, rolling his eyes and moving back into his cell.

Bringing his temper under control, Rhodey moved on to the next cell, where the person he needed was kept.

"How's Tony?" Sam asked without turning around and Rhodey felt some of his tension slacken at the first ounce of concern shown by Tony's ex-team-mates on this side.

"Fucked up and down but still alive," Rhodey answered shortly and Sam turned around with a raised eyebrow but Rhodey continued without explaining further, "I need you to tell me where Cap and his buddy went."

Sam's eyes hardened and he stepped a bit forward.

"If you think that I'm going to lay it all bare without so much as a fight, then you're sorely mistaken. You're gonna have to go Terminator on me to -"

"Yeah, shut up," Rhodey cut him short and brought out the gloved gadget he had flicked from Tony's stock earlier, changing a few settings to effectively block the audio of the room, "Don't look up at the cameras but the audio's off. They can't hear you."

Sam's eyes widened a bit but he kept his stance normal otherwise.

"Look, I've got this picture and info telling me that the guy who came in for Barnes' questioning wasn't the guy assigned," Rhodey came straight to the point, bringing up the image as a holograph on the glove, "Now, something tells me that you know about this and what this means. And that this means something real bad. Something also tells me that Cap and Barnes have gone wherever they are because of this. Am I wrong?"

"What're you gonna do if you're right?" Sam countered with a defiant stare.

"What I have to, depending on what you tell me," Rhodey shot back, taking a breath before he continued, "Sam, I don't know what this is and you guys, if you did know about this, should have come clean a long time back instead of playing chicken, but what's done is done. If the guy who came into the HQ is a threat, then I need to know. Listen, I'm not saying that Steve's right and I don't know shit about who Barnes is right now but I also don't want to complicate things further than they are. If you help me out now, I may be able to help you guys out by bringing in the real culprit behind this whole thing. Steve has no authority right now and they're hunting for him real bad. He needs help and if he's going off the reservation, there's not many people outside here who can do that. So you can either trust me and tell the truth for once or you can keep quiet and let shit happen as it will."

Sam stared at him with a skeptical look but Rhodey wasn't going to apologize or grovel here. He was here on basis of a hunch and to do the right thing, not to get into anybody's good graces. If Sam needed help, he was going to have to trust Rhodes.

"I'll tell you, but," Sam cautioned seriously, "you gotta promise me that you'll help alone and as a friend."

"I'll take 'team-mate' for now and I really don't have an entourage to call on for this shit," Rhodey answered with a shrug and Sam huffed with a small smirk but did go on to tell Rhodey what he knew.

About the five supersoldiers or Winter Soldiers, to be more specific.

About Siberia.

About the fake doctor and Barnes' triggers.

"Rhodes, you gotta trust me on this," Sam said as he completed, "Steve's a friend. He's our friend and if you're gonna go after him, you should do it to help him out."

"Sam, I've got a friend in a hospital because of this whole shit. I'll do anything to end it and right now, I'm more pissed at the fake doctor, whoever he is, than Steve Rogers," Rhodey informed him, "I'll let that part come up once this is done. So no, don't worry, I won't hurt your precious friend as long as he doesn't do anything more stupid."

Sam looked like he was going to argue but then he thought better of it and nodded once, knowing that it was the best Rhodey would offer. Rhodes took their leave and went back out where Ross greeted him and told him that they were still looking for Rogers. Rhodey hated it, but he made an excuse of going back to the Compound, putting it all on his own injuries and pointing out that Steve wouldn't come back here. 

Ross seemed to buy it and Rhodey got into the private chopper, bidding Ross good-bye and flew it half-way from the Raft before activating the stealth feature on the hidden Iron Man spare suit that had a stealth feature in it. Tony would never give it to him voluntarily but Rhodey really didn't have time to sit by Tony's unconscious body and wait for permission.

He might not be Iron Man, but he needed this specific suit for the moment.

He loaded the right coordinates onto his system and flew towards Siberia, hoping to hell that this would be the last of surprises.

**********

A bunker. His coordinates had led him to a bunker and Rhodey stared at the closed shut metal door for a second before sighing.

He put in the suit's strength and pulled in the gap between the doors, opening it wide with his hands to see -

Oh wow. Classic pose and amazingly dramatic. Steve was crouched in front of Barnes, his shield up and ready while Barnes was standing a step above the Captain, gun pointing at Rhodey.

"Huh, and here I thought you couldn't get any more dramatic, Cap," he said as greeting and Steve frowned before calling out.

"Rhodes? What the -- Why're you in this suit?" Steve asked with a frown and Rhodey was sorely tempted to spill but he had a job to do.

"Put your toys away, Cap and Co," he said instead and flipped up his faceplate with a raised eyebrow, "Seriously, you've punched through your friends and team enough to keep your dumb secrets. Stand down, I know what's going on."

Steve stilled for a minute before putting his shield down and standing straight. Barnes kept his gun up though.

"Oh for -- look, can we cut the theatrics and get the real bad guy? Because there's a cell in his name and I'm itching to put him there," Rhodey said, "So for now, let's put down our 'he did, she did' and work on this, okay?"

"I just -- sure," Steve said with a sigh and gestured Barnes to lower his gun, "You going to take us in after this?"

"Depends. You gonna help get your other team-mates out of prison first? Considering how they're there because of you in the first place?" Rhodey countered unconcerned and felt Steve stiffen before walking forward besides Rhodes. Barnes followed them, covering for them.

They walked around the ruined place, checking the dark corners for any sign of Zemo, the fake doctor and didn't find him till they reached a new section of the bunker. When the lights flickered on, all three of them went on high alert.

Of course, that's when Zemo began his bad guy monologue and Captain, like the good guy, engaged him in it.

"You're Sokovian, is that what this is about?" Steve asked and Rhodey wanted to roll his eyes because that didn't really make this, any of this okay. He kept his faceplate closed though, ready to fight at a second's notice.

"Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell. No. I'm here because I made a promise." Zemo replied and Rhodey could smell crazy on him.

"You've lost someone."

"I've lost everyone. And so will you, captain." Zemo declared and said some crap about Steve's eyes that Rhodey ignored in favor of observing his surroundings better, preparing for attack. Nothing happened though and Steve came back closer just in time for a computer screen to flicker on.

"What the hell" he muttered to himself and saw a video come on, a CCTV footage by the appearance. It was some road, visible through the grainy footage and Rhodey watched as nothing happened for the first few seconds before a car came skidding on and crashed.

The words December 16, 1991 was written at the bottom of the screen and Rhodey frowned, trying to find something significant about it, something that would -

Holy fucking shit.

He saw Howard Stark stumble out of the car at the same time that the date made sense in his head. That was the death date of Howard and Maria Stark. He heard a bike and saw one skidding down behind the crashed car, then saw as leather boots came into focus.

He heard Howard beg the new person to save his wife again and again. The camera shifted angle though and Rhodey saw the now familiar face of Bucky Barnes stare down coldly before his hand shot out and pulled Howard's face up by his hair.

The name of Sergeant Barnes slipped out of Howard's mouth and Rhodey looked up to see if Barnes was having any reaction. The guy had tortured guilt in his eyes and Rhodey had a fleeting thought about how freaky this whole thing was before the video continued into more gore.

The punches to Howard were bad but the strangulation of Maria Stark was far worse. Rhodey stared at the screen as the on-screen Barnes shot at the camera coldly. For a few seconds nobody moved before Rhodey looked up and turned to Steve.

"What the fuck?" he asked because that was all he could manage right now. Steve didn't reply anything but his eyes were concerned and a tad bit tortured themselves.

"Did you know?" Rhodey asked next because this was some deeply disturbing shit and Steve looked pretty calm for that.

"I didn't know if it was him" Steve tried to weasel out and Rhodey let out a bitter chuckle that came out tinny through the suit.

"Don't bullshit me, Cap. Did you know?"

Steve stared at him for a minute before swallowing lightly.

"Yes"

"And does Tony know?" he asked next already knowing the answer to the question, "Does Tony know that  **you know** , that is."

"No" Steve clenched his jaw and shook his head.

"What is -- Stark! Did you not see that?" Zemo asked from across and Rhodey took a deep breath, looking away from Steve to stare at Zemo.

"You're under arrest," he said coldly instead of correcting the guy's obvious identity mistake and raised a hand's gauntlet, pointing it at him, "Anything and everything you say will be used against you -"

"YOU JUST SAW HIM MURDER YOUR PARENTS!" Zemo yelled suddenly, looking agitated, "HE KILLED THEM! AND CAPTAIN AMERICA KNEW THAT!"

"Yeah, okay, you're done," Rhodey muttered and used his repulsor once to knock out the glass window before flying in swiftly, before Zemo could do anything else. He pinned Zemo down with his knee and used the suit's unbreakable bonds feature to cuff the guy's hands and feet.

Finally, he put a metal finger into the guy's mouth and searched for any capsules before leaning back.

"So this was his whole plan," a new accented voice came from the entrance and everyone turned to see the Black Panther coming in calmly, his mask off and eyes staring at Rhodey,  "All this pain, all this chaos just to get you here, Stark. To get you all to fight."

"Stupid plan," Rhodey informed before flipping his faceplate up and nodding at T'Challa, " Your Highness"

T'Challa, to his credit, just blinked at Rhodey before a small smirk graced his face.

"A real surprise, Colonel Rhodes," he assured, realizing that it was Rhodey in there and not Tony.

"NO! HOW IS THIS -- Mphmh" Zemo was quickly shut up by Rhodey's gauntlet over it.

"You wanna keep him contained?" Rhodey gestured to T'Challa and the king, thankfully, nodded and came forward to take over their new prisoner, allowing Rhodey to move away.

Once Rhodey was sure that Zemo was taken away properly by the Black Panther, he turned to face Steve and Bucky.

"You wanted to know why I'm in this suit, right?" he began, speaking to Steve, "It's because Vision shot Tony out of the sky and Tony crashed into the ground so hard that his spine broke. Almost."

Steve's eyes widened and he let out a small gasp.

"What?!" he demanded, taking a step forward, "How did -- why would Vision shoot Tony? How is Tony now? Where is he? Is he alright? How the hell did all this happen?!"

"I'll tell you, but first I need to get some answers from you," Rhodey evaded the question and went for the jugular, "Why'd you lie to Tony about his parents?"

"I -- I didn't lie," Steve fumbled for a minute, eyes flicking in Bucky's direction fleetingly before he looked back at Rhodey, "Rhodes, I just wanted to keep everyone safe. The past--it won't change anything now and Bucky wasn't in control then. It wasn't him. It was Hydra. He was brainwashed and manipulated. He didn't have any control over it, Rhodes."

"Then why the secrecy?" Rhodey countered calmly, "If you knew that Barnes was innocent and mind-controlled, why hide it in the first place? It isn't like he was at fault, right? According to you?"

"Tony wouldn't have thought so and I know how painful this -"

"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there because if not --" Rhodey paused and shook his head to throw away some of the temper building in him, "You never had the right to keep this from him, Rogers. Do you even understand that? This is his life. His parents. His only family. For twenty and odd years he has lived a lie, thinking that his dad crashed the car somehow. For all this while he has tortured himself over guilt, trauma and grief and you --. You  **don't** know how painful it was, is or will be for him, alright? You don't. Let me tell you that right away, because so far, you've proved that you know extremely little of Tony. So don't even take that tune with me."

"You," Rhodey turned to face Bucky who looked up with a cautious stare that Rhodey ignored, "Do you remember them?"

"I remember every one," Barnes answered and Rhodey did not want to even imagine how many people he was talking about.

"Son-of-a-bitch," Rhodey cursed under his breath and shook his head at the turn of events, "Fucking hell, do you even see why Zemo did all of this? Do you see what he expected, Rogers? If it hadn't been me and Tony had been here, then either one of you or both of you would be dead right now." Steve's eyes hardened and his shoulders hunched defensively but Rhodey just let out a bitter laugh, "Oh don't even try to deny it or defend yourself, Captain. You screwed up big-time here. Fucking shit!"

Rhodey stayed silent for a while, processing things in his head. Steve was staring between him and Bucky, clearly trying to plot an escape plan.

"How long?" Rhodey asked next and Steve looked stumped, "How long have you known?"

"Since DC" Steve answered quietly and Rhodey rubbed a hand over his face.

"That---fucking hell, Rogers, that was  _two years ago_ ," Rhodey barked on a hysterical laugh, "Shit, Sokovia hadn't even happened then! Ultron hadn't happened then! You knew about Tony's parents and you kept it to yourself at a time when Tony opened up his home to you? What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"What was I supposed to say, Rhodes?" Steve shot back, "Tony, my friend Bucky, who was dead for seventy years and is now apparently alive, was being mind-controlled by Hydra to kill people over the years. He also killed your parents. Oh, do you want some toast this morning?"

"Maybe! He deserves to know!"

"Rhodes, I didn't even have Bucky then! He was still at loose and I was looking for him!" Steve snapped back, "I gathered this bit through a compute that had Zola's brain in it. THAT was disconcerting as it was and all I had was a hint! I didn't exactly have proof!"

"But you had something!"

"Right, just as the entire world did, if they, apparently, took time to decrypt the files Natasha released on the internet!" Steve shot back.

"Oh my fucking God! It was right there!" Rhodey shook his head and groaned, "Shit, I don't know what'll piss him off more: Knowing the truth or knowing that he could have known the truth all along if he had just decoded the fucking files on the internet!"

Steve stayed silent at that comment thankfully because Rhodey was having a moment and he really didn't need Steve to point out anything about it.

"Rhodes, we have to go" Steve said after a moment and Rhodey looked up with a glare.

"By 'go' I hope you mean go back to the US, Cap," he warned.

"We can't - Rhodes, you know what they'll do to Bucky if we -"

"Yeah, no, see that's where you're all messed up," Rhodey bit out, "I know that you have your moments of paranoia and shit but Barnes was being gunned for only because of the UN blast. Now that we have our real guy, we've got nothing on Barnes."

"Really? You've got nothing on the Winter Soldier?" Steve asked sarcastically and Rhodey narrowed his eyes.

"That depends. Is he the Winter Soldier now or Bucky Barnes?"

Thankfully, Barnes answered that question.

"I'm Bucky," he said firmly before adding, "I don't- I don't do that anymore."

Rhodey stared at him for a moment, gauging his sincerity before nodding and turning towards Steve.

"Look, here's the deal," he began, "Your team is currently being held in the Raft. Yes, they are and stop your angry eyes, they don't work on me. Ross has kept them there and if you come back properly, you have a chance of fighting this legally because there's got to be something that prohibits usage of the Raft on them. Zemo's big plan, was to break us all up. We've done the job half-way but thankfully, not all the way. You've still got the chance to make things right, one last chance. You run now and Barnes is never going to get that pardon. Your team is never going to get their dignity. You are never going to be anything more than a criminal. But you come back and you become a hero again. Slightly arrogant and defiant, but still a hero."

Rhodey paused and swallowed hard before continuing.

"Tony is down. He's hurt real bad and we're shifting him to Columbia for further treatment and tests. But the doctors predict a spinal injury and Cap, those don't come easy," Rhodey shook his head and stared at Steve's wavering eyes, "He's going to need all the support he can get if things go downhill. He did this, all of this for the team, Cap. Whatever you may think of his methods, the guy was never against you guys. Even when he was cornered, he thought about you. You think he couldn't have ended this in minutes? Cap, he has resources enough to stop an army and he didn't use any of them to stop you. He brought in a non-aggressive player to help. It was Natasha who brought in the Black Panther. Look, he and you guys have had your differences in the past but he's always tried hard to save the team, okay? Even during this whole thing, that's what he did. Honestly, for all his efforts and struggles to keep you all together and safe from Ross this far, you owe him at least this much. You owe him enough to come back and face your problems, not run from it like a coward. You think the Accords are shit? Find a way out. Find an alternative. Don't outright order the world to move for you. Nobody has that right. Our hands may be strong but that does not mean that we have every right of power in the world. You're Captain America, not Captain World. The other countries don't owe you shit and still we don't hesitate to go fight on their land when needed. Everybody deserves their right to live in peace and freedom, okay Cap? FInd a way to convince the world that you can self-regulate and then ask them to back down. Don't outright tell them that you know best. You're not a dictator."

Steve was staring at him outright with shock and surprise but Rhodey didn't give a shit. Finally, Steve gathered enough breath to speak again.

"I can come but I can't bring back Bucky. Not -- not till I make sure that he'll be safe there"

"I can help with that" a voice came and they turned to see T'Challa re-enter.

"Forgive me, Your Highness, but your track record suggests otherwise," Steve pointed out and T'Challa laughed a bit, albeit sadly.

"My father and Mr. Barnes, both of them are victims of others' madness and violence. If I can bring peace to one of them, I would have succeeded," he answered and Rhodey knew that it was as best an apology that Bucky was going to get.

"But I -"

"Captain, you have my word," T'Challa said firmly, "I will not let anything untoward happen to your friend under my rule and care. In Wakanda, Mr. Barnes will be protected and helped. Our technology might help out in his mind-control."

Steve looked hesitant but then Bucky shared a look with him that made the Captain nod.

"Great, lets go home then," Rhodey said in a bored voice and gestured Steve to lead them out. Steve shot Bucky one last look before walking out, letting Rhodey follow him as a precaution of him not running away.

********

Ross was done. Sam could not believe how easy it had been in the end but apparently Natasha was extremely resourceful when needed and had brought in a lot of people who could question Ross about his methods in containing the Avengers.

General Talbot, someone Rhodey knew from the past, had been particularly helpful and had helped convince the UN to delay the ratification till the Avengers had enough time to discuss and come to an informed decision. The captured Avengers were released with apologies, half-baked as they might be.

On the personal front though, Sam saw that the Avengers, especially Rhodey, were devastated. 

Tony's tests at Columbia had come through and it had confirmed his worst fears. Paralyzed from the waist down.  _Paralyzed_.

Rhodey looked like he wanted to punch something hard, preferably himself or Vision. 

"138 combat missions. That's how many I've flown. Every one of them could've been my last, but I flew 'em. Because the fight needed to be fought. It's the same with these Accords. I signed because it was the right thing to do." Rhodey paused and Sam saw his nostrils flaring, hinting that the man was trying to find the right words, "But Tony? He didn't do this because that. Sure, I know that he believes in regulation now and he wants us to be safe but...he did this because of what he feared. His past and our future."

"He felt guilty," Natasha commented from the window-sill of the hospital waiting room, eyes cast outside and voice emotionless but Sam could see her hand clenched. She had always been a worrier, no matter what she liked to show otherwise. "And he knew the politics better than the rest. The unrest and distrust of the world? That was bound to come back and bite us in the ass soon. He wanted us to be passive and turn the tides our way through the law."

Rhodey's jaw ticked and he was resolutely ignoring Natasha but he clearly agreed with her words and continued like there had been no interruptions.

"I don't care what you think he did or how better he could have done," he said calmly, staring each person in the eye and Sam noted his gaze hardening when it lingered on Steve, "He wasn't the one who arranged for your Raft sentence and he wasn't the one who told you guys to break the law in your attempt to fight Zemo. We did what we did out of our own choices. If anybody is to blame, it is ourselves. Zemo played us all and we fell for it. It's as simple as that. So I want you to listen carefully to what I'm about to say next."

"You don't take out your hatred or anger on him," Rhodey ordered in a voice that had been perfected from commanding soldiers and combat missions, "You don't play the blame game with him when he comes back. You don't shove your doubts and irritations down his throat. None of you. You want to vent, you do it to the mirror or to a punching bag. Not him. He's not your whipping boy."

He paused and stared down Steve in particular with a coldness that Sam had never seen in Rhodey.

"If I find out that anyone messes with him, verbally, physically, mentally or emotionally - if I find out that any one of you does anything wrong to him, I promise you this. They won't find your body," he vowed coolly, "I don't care how strong you are or what your superpower is, you hurt Tony one bit and I'll take you down. No matter what."

"Colonel, I believe that they are -" T'Challa spoke up but Rhodey cut him short, not looking away from his former team-mates.

"Your Highness, pardon me but this is none of your business," he said politely, "This isn't your team and you don't know them. I request you, please, stay out of this?". Without bothering to get an answer and focused back on the others.

"Am I being clear?" he asked with a tone that broached no wavering. Clint opened his mouth to say something ugly, going by the sneer on his face but Rhodey's eyes cut to him and his eyes flashed. "Am. I. Being. Clear?" he demanded again and not even Clint was dumb enough to counter James Rupert Rhodes when he growled like that. Out of all of them, Rhodey and Wanda were the only ones who had no compunctions about not pulling punches, as was evident during the Leipzig battle. 

"Clear" Steve answered calmly and Sam thought that he saw something guilt-like flash in Steve's eyes but he didn't have enough time to think about it.

"Colonel Rhodes?" a nurse came in and called out for Rhodey, "He's awake now."

Rhodey nodded and shot the others one last warning look before walking out of the room, to go meet the friend who had been hit the worst out of them all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHat do you guys think? Interesting? Boring? Feedback please!


	2. Lean On Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am officially overwhelmed and a little freaked out by the attention this story is getting! W.O.W! And so much Rhodey love? You guys are the BEST! Thank you all <3  
> This chapter deals with Rhodey being the smart guy we all know he is and being with Tony the way he needs to be. One thing I've always admired about Rhodey is that he doesn't gush or say poetic words but his fierce protectiveness and closeness with Tony shines through in his actions and thoughts. He has no qualms about calling Tony's bullshit but also has gives no fucks about holding Tony up if he needs to. He knows that he has a right to be Tony's family and that confidence comes through every time even where Pepper fails. I hope I can show that here because never forget, Rhodey is Tony's frickin brother and he will take that right seriously.
> 
> Also, I am NOT a medical expert by any means so I request you to please keep that in mind for any medical notions or data given here. I didn't consult a doctor and any disease evaluation/syndrome evaluation is simply based on random research (not thorough sorry).

This wasn't Rhodey's first rodeo involving an injured Tony. This wasn't even his first rodeo with a 'barely escaped death' Tony. This was, however, the first time Rhodey had been in a position to save Tony and had failed to do so. If anybody hated failure more than Tony, it was Rhodey. 

"Hey snugglebunny" Tony called out the minute Rhodey walked into his room, eyeing the soldier with a morphine-spiked dopey gaze and a smile that had sadness tinged in it, like it had been for quite a few months now, "Look, I got the good sheets!" Tony gestured towards the better thread count sheets that the bed had, because Tony had personally seen to it that the hospital had good sheets ever since the last time he had landed in this hospital for a minor battle-injury.

"No ducks or sheep," Rhodey nodded and Tony's fake cheer brightened a bit before he shrugged with a smirk. 

"You got me my M&Ms?" Tony raised an eyebrow with a demanding air and Rhodey mirrored his defiant expression for a few seconds before picking off a small packet from his jacket's pocket and putting it on Tony's lap, "Aww, you  _do_ love me!" Tony crowed with a wink.

"How're you?" Rhodey asked as Tony tried to open the packet but struggled with weak and slightly shivering hands.

"Lame," Tony answered without missing a beat and Rhodey's heart clenched but he snorted openly.

"Out of all the leg related humor you could get, you had to go with the dumbest one," Rhodey shook his head with a sigh and Tony quirked a small smirk before giving up on opening the M&M packet. Rhodey didn't say a word, simply plucking the packet off Tony's lap and opening it, before popping a couple of M&Ms into his own mouth.

"Rude" Tony clucked his tongue and Rhodey rolled his eyes but offered Tony the packet anyway. They sat munching on the highly not recommended treat for sometime before Rhodey spoke again.

"You've got a problem"

"I've got a lot of problems," Tony corrected with an airy sniff and Rhodey nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, but it seems like you've got a heart problem in addition to all your brain problems," he pointed out and Tony grinned at the blunt statement.

"It's called heart-ache, platypus. Happens when your love life is in shambles," Tony said with an exaggerated sigh and Rhodey politely ignored that bait, knowing that Tony would egg him on it in an attempt to probably fight and push him away.

"It's called 'stress cardiomyopathy'," Rhodey countered plainly, "The chest pains you had when Barnes attacked you, they were an indication of that apart from the aftermath of being shot at point-blank."

"So you're saying, I literally have a broken heart," Tony mused and Rhodey quirked a half grin at the asshole's deadpanned expression.

"Well, that's what you get for being a heartbreaker all these years," he shrugged and Tony narrowed his eyes mockingly before grinning proudly.

"So..." Tony huffed with a drawn out pause and Rhodey raised an eyebrow.

"So?"

"When're we gonna address the Loxodonta in the room?" Tony prompted and Rhodey narrowed his eyes.

"I don't even know if you try to be racist in your animal jokes or if you are naturally a douche," he shook his head.

"I don't try to be racist, I try to be scientific," Tony corrected him with a smirk before the facade faltered and he cleared his throat, "Rhodes, come on, be straight with me."

"Man, I  _never_ try to be anything but 'straight' with you," Rhodey said with a huff and Tony rolled his eyes but then Rhodey continued on a serious note, "You know the basic info, Tony. It's a lumbar injury. Which means that you've got a long way with therapy and some big bucks to blow but essentially, you can still be mobile, just with -"

"- the help of an assistant, human or mechanical, yeah, I know the gist," Tony gritted his teeth and got a tight edge around his eyes, "Which also essentially means that I can't pilot the suit for a while."

"A long while," Rhodey warned because Tony had a history of defining 'a while' by hours or days.

"Irrelevant," Tony waved a hand that didn't have any IV attached to it, "What matters is that Iron Man is out for the count."

"No, what matters is that Tony Stark survived a 200 foot fall in a deadweight titanium alloy suit," Rhodey corrected firmly and Tony scoffed.

"Afghanistan was worse than 200 feet"

"Yeah, but Afghanistan didn't have you hit with an energy beam strong enough to destroy an arc reactor mid-flight," Rhodey reminded him and Tony narrowed his eyes.

"You know that you have the worst bedside manners, right?" he commented dryly and Rhodey shrugged.

"Anybody by your bedside gets robbed of manners," he quipped with a teasing smirk and Tony's tightness around the eyes relaxed a bit.

"How bad is the situation with Ross?" Tony asked instead of staying on topic and Rhodey breathed in deeply.

"Ross isn't overseeing the Accords from our corner anymore," he said simply and Tony frowned.

"Why? Did he keel over and die of all the MonsterRossity?"

"He put them in the Raft," Rhodes answered calmly and Tony froze. It was like time had stilled for the man lying on the bed with two non-functional legs and an injured spine. Rhodes knew that Tony knew about the Raft. They had seen its design in passing before, well, Tony had. It was supposed to be a holding center for supervillains who were global threats and essentially screamed 'criminals' in bold letters.

"What the -- are they still --" Tony was beginning to hyperventilate a bit, probably due to the already existing trauma getting overtipped but Rhodes placed a firm hand on his shoulder and pushed him lightly back onto the bed.

"Breathe. Stop, don't talk, breathe," he instructed in the voice he had perfected over years of handling traumatized soldiers and Tony, "They're out, all of them, they're out of there. The UN hadn't approved of the Raft and when notified, it took immediate action. Relax."

"I told him!" Tony hissed, ignoring Rhodey's placations," I fucking told Cap that this would happen! I told him 'If we don't do this now, it will be done to us'. I told him that prison would be a definite result! That idiot, that fucking idiot! God! He roped in  _Clint_ , who had fucking  _retired_ into -"

"Tony? Tony, breathe!" Rhodey commanded again, noting the rapidly increasing warning beeps from the heart monitors, "Hey! Hey, come on, it's over. It's over, they're outta there. Tones, hey come on -"

"What is happening here?!" a nurse burst into the room and noted the monitors before bustling in a doctor who directed Rhodey to be thrown out of the room immediately.

"Colonel, please, you have to leave," the doctor demanded shortly as they moved to get Tony back into control. Rhodey complied immediately, knowing better than to interfere in the process and with one last worried glance at his best friend, left the room.

Once he was out of the room, he collapsed into a waiting chair with a heavy huff of air.

"Goddammit" he whispered into his hands as he closed his eyes and let his head bow down. He always knew that Tony was an overprotective idiot when it came to the team, even going to the extents of taking the wrong routes or shortcuts to keep them safe but he was just so frustrated right now. He was completely frustrated because he hadn't even told Tony the worst part and already the guy was panicking. He was panicking over something he hadn't even been witness to or hadn't become a direct victim of.

In that moment Rhodey didn't want to imagine what it would be like when Tony found out that the very Captain America he had tried to rope into protection had hidden the worst kind of secret from him. He also didn't want to imagine Tony forgiving him or Steve finding a way out of being answerable because if Tony didn't show his anger against Steve Rogers, Rhodey was going to. And that would definitely not go well for the guy from Brooklyn. No matter the Accords, because this was a completely different fight on its own.

*********

The call to Pepper was a risk. A high risk that straddled the line between Potentially Backfiring and Backfiring Like A Jericho, because anything related to Pepper would backfire from Tony right now. Rhodey doesn't know the whole story because Tony would rather eat his own hand than admit to anything that hurts him on a level deeper than his skin, but Rhodey knows enough to understand that Pepper and Tony have been on a 'break' for a long while now. He guessed that it must have begun somewhere before Ultron, having noted the conspicuous absence of Pepper's presence at the infamous Revel held a long time back. If he had to make a more accurate assumption, he would say that they had begun to crack right after Extremis. Rhodey might not have had a lot of successful relationships in the past himself but he knew enough about the basics to say that no couple survived something as horrifying as the Mandarin and Extremis without some consequences. When you coupled that with the extremity that Tony and Pepper were in their own existence, it only compounded any problem they would face.

Fuck, Rhodey thought wearily, he sounded so old.

The phone screen was taunting him like a dancing worm and Rhodey desperately wished that he were a wiser man. A wiser man would have skipped the whole 'she might be an ex but she's still a friend' route and gone straight to the 'let's handle one problem at a time' zone. Rhodey though, he was a friend of Pepper too, which essentially put him between a rock and the hardest place. 

"Please don't screw it up further," he whispered out a sighed plea to maybe himself, Pepper or someone in space as he dialed a familiar number and waited for a familiar voice.

 _"Rhodey?"_ , a sleep-coated voice answered after the fifth ring and Rhodey mentally calculated the time to bite back a wince,  _"What's wrong?"_

"Hey Pepper," he said lamely before mentally kicking himself for sounding like a high-schooler addressing a stranger, "Sorry, did I catch you at a wrong time?"

 _"No...well, it's kind of late but no, tell me_ _,"_ Pepper replied, clearing her throat and sounding a bit more awake with every word.

Rhodey honestly wanted to ease her into the information but he had long learnt that easing in never worked in such situations. There was no guide on how to tell your best friend's ex-girlfriend who is also your friend that your best friend was paralyzed in a friendly fire (the irony of those words never stopped) during a fight with his team (ex team? rivals? Rhodey didn't know yet).

"Tony's paralyzed from a spinal injury in the lumbar region," he said bluntly and heard silence on the other side of the line. There were endless options Pepper could choose to respond with. Personally, Rhodey picked out the top three as -

1\. What happened? Who did it?

2\. When did this happen? There was nothing on the news about any injury or fight!

3\. Is he going to be okay?

 _"Where are you?"_ , Pepper asked instead and Rhodey debated on a safe answer.

"We're at Columbia right now but we're shifting him back to the Compound soon," he answered finally and heard something that sounded like rustling of sheets.

 _"Why the Compound?"_ Pepper asked in a voice that indicated that she was not very happy about that _, "Shouldn't we take him to the Mansion?"_

"Yeah, but, the Mansion's kind of trashed," Rhodey pinched the bridge of his nose at yet another awkward topic to be broached.

 _"Trashed"_ she echoed in a flat tone and Rhodey took a breath.

"Well, you guys did break up", he said simply because he was NOT going to go over the details of how Tony had practically done nothing but test the armor again and again all over the Mansion, wrecking it all in various levels. He was also not going to mention that Tony had been staying with Rhodey for a while now. But now, Rhodey needed a place that Tony owned so that at the very least, there would be something the genius could control. 

 _"I'll be at the Compound soon too,"_ Pepper stated in a determined tone before adding,  _"Rhodey?"_

"Yeah?"

 _"Thank you"_ , she said quietly and Rhodey had never felt more relieved because Pepper might have issues with Tony even now but he had been right in assuming that she would not bring it up in such a situation. Romance and relationships aside, Pepper Potts was the woman who had no qualms about fighting a fire-breathing Killian when it came to saving Tony. She was as flawed as the next person but lack of strength or determination was never one of her flaws.

"See you soon, Pepper," Rhodey replied and cut the call, staring at the phone screen for a minute before breathing in and pocketing it. 

"Pepper's coming back?" he heard someone ask and turned around with a raised eyebrow to face Natasha.

"Yeah, turns out she knows the meaning of sticking by her friends in their time of need," Rhodey said snidely, "Who knew that concept, huh?"

Natasha hid her wince in a flash but not before Rhodey could catch it.

"Steve is also my friend, Rhodes. I couldn't abandon him when he needed me too," she said softly and Rhodey narrowed his eyes but she continued, "I tried to help both of them. Rhodey, Tony's my friend but in that moment if I hadn't intervened, Steve and Barnes would have had no chance. T'Challa was right there, you know that."

"And whose fault was that?" Rhodey snorted, "Natasha, you played Tony. Don't spin excuses for that."

"I'm not," she insisted but then raised her hand in a peace gesture when Rhodey was about to retort, "But I know that this is not the time for that discussion. I'm sorry. How is he?" Her eyes flicked back towards the room where Tony was currently sleeping before meeting Rhodey's eyes again.

Rhodey was beyond disgruntled and pissed but he had also seen Natasha before this bloody mess. She had always had a twisted relationship with Tony but the woman had also shown some considerate moments before. 

"He's not gonna kick the bucket," he sighed and looked away from the pained look in Natasha's eyes, "But he's not gonna be all good either. We'll make it though. We always have."

"The Compound, when're we shifting him there?" she asked and Rhodey turned back to her with a steely look.

" _We_?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, "What makes you think you guys are coming there?"

Natasha's eyes widened for a second before she tilted her head to the side curiously.

"Me, Tony and unfortunately Vision too are shifting back to the Compound.  **You** and the group of ex-Avengers are gonna be set up in a different venue," he informed her with a bitter smirk, "What, you thought that I'd simply let you all come back and everything will be hunky dory? Natasha, despite all the emotional reasons and whatever, they still went against the law. Consciously, without any mind control or manipulation to fall back on as a crutch. Every single one of you knew your actions and the consequences for them. Just because they're out of the Raft does not mean that you're back to being the Avengers."

Natasha inhaled sharply at the implication, clearly thinking that they were probably going to be sent back to a prison when Rhodey rolled his eyes hard.

"It's not a prison, but it is a safe house with government overseeing," he informed her, "And before you get on your conspiration theories, we have a very specific group put together who'll be overseeing you. Not Ross' people. I think you won't have any logical objections to these people."

"Who?" she asked with a deadly quiet and Rhodey felt his smirk deepen.

"SHIELD agents Maria Hill and Melinda May," he said with a certain sense of relish before dropping the bomb, "apart from Ex-SHIELD Director and current agent Phil Coulson."

Natasha looked stunned at the last name. "Coulson?" she asked in a quiet disbelieving voice.

"Yeah, and if General Talbot is to be believed, it seems that he's pretty disillusioned about his 'legends' now and might be slightly disappointed with some of his ex-charges," Rhodey shrugged nonchalantly before eyeing Natasha seriously, "The Accords are still on the table, Natasha. It might not be in Ross' hands, which is pretty good and yes, I was wrong about him to an extent, but this topic is not over yet. The Avengers will always be needed when the world is at risk but when we act like the biggest risks to the world ourselves, we need someone else to draw the line for us. I think this whole mess has only gone on to prove that. Barnes didn't deserve to be prosecuted for Zemo's mess and he's a POW if you look at it, so he might get off easily. But the others? There's a lot of explaining to do and a lot of mistakes to correct. Ironic, isn't it? That everyone thought that Barnes would get the hardest rap but we had idiots breeding in our own home-turf."

"Are we going to get prosecuted?" Natasha asked bluntly and Rhodey considered her for a moment before shaking his head.

"Can't say, but I can tell you that there's a lot of things everyone is answerable for. The world is pissed Natasha. The UN is looking at us like we're uncontrollable infants. This whole thing was immature and sloppy," Rhodey shook his head tiredly, "Like Tony told Rogers, this will be done to us later, because a sense of accountability is inevitable. For now though, Talbot is working out a way to have a civilized discussion with everyone to try and sort out the mess we've made and gotten from the current document. There's a lot of legal work to do and talk about, but no, for now I don't think anyone is being fired or put in prison. But Natasha, this is not the end and we both know it. So I suggest you get everyone to start working on their rusted little brains because it's about brains now, not brawn."

Natasha stared at him for several minutes silently and Rhodey was expecting some sort of snappy comeback when she breathed out and nodded.

"I'll talk to them," she said and smiled slightly at the dubious look she got, "I know, I know you think it's strange but I'll try, Rhodey. I kind of expected this. And Rhodey?"

She waited till Rhodey paid her complete attention before continuing.

"I meant what I said before. We're stronger when we're together," she paused and met his eyes unflinchingly, "That includes Tony. No matter where we stand right now, he is still a friend. And I'm sorry that I am a part of what happened to him."

Rhodey held her gaze and searched for any trace of a lie but Natasha didn't look away. After a minute he nodded shortly and half-turned in a gesture that meant that he didn't want to talk anymore.

"I'll tell him that when he's ready to listen...if he's ready to listen," Rhodey corrected sharply, offering nothing more.

"Don't," she replied and Rhodey frowned but Natasha simply shook her head, "If and when he's ready to hear it, I should be the person who should say it. That's the least what I -- he deserves to hear it from me."

Rhodey wanted to ask her a lot of questions but he honestly wasn't in the mood for it. He knew Natasha Romanoff and considered her a strong friend himself, but nothing, nobody ever came close to Tony. So he let the statement stand and simply nodded again before turning around completely and walking away.

Natasha stood at the same spot for a few minutes before she went back to talk to the team, eyes lingering on Tony's door on the way.

******

Steve tuned out of Clint and Sam's argument as he processed the information in his head. It was arranged in a pretty simple order:

1\. Tony was paralyzed and was detected with a heart condition that was, ironically, called the 'broken heart' syndrome. 

2\. He had effectively landed everyone in his corner into trouble, even if he hadn't intended it to be so.

3\. Clint and Scott were probably going to face serious charges thanks to their non-existent Avenger status (even if Natasha had shot down any further stupid ideas and had warned both of them to not even try to hoodwink the law again)

4\. Bucky was with T'Challa, a man who had tried to kill him and was now helping them.

5\. Coulson was going to be overseeing them.

6\. Wanda was being unnaturally silent and withdrawn ever since she had been brought out of the Raft.

7\. Vision had shot Tony out of the sky. Vision. The guy who never got distracted.

8\. Natasha was not meeting his eyes and kept shooting him disappointed looks whenever she thought he wasn't looking.

9\. His stupidity in trying to keep his knowledge of the Winter Soldier's involvement in Tony's parents' death had been the base for Zemo's entire plan. It was based on the confidence that he would not be honest about something this pivotal.

10\. Tony was  _paralyzed_ and Steve was one of the reasons for the whole mess to come to this state. In his efforts of protecting one friend, he had hurt another in ways that were completely inexcusable.

"Shut up!" Sam hissed and Steve snapped out of his list to observe that Sam was glaring at Clint with an anger Steve had never seen on the man before. 

"Sam..." Natasha tried to calm him even as she sent a vicious look Clint's way and Steve cursed himself for not paying more attention but Sam was shaking off Natasha to continue talking to Clint.

"Shut the hell up, Barton," Sam said, eyes boring into Clint's slightly widened yet slightly defiant ones, "You have  _no business_ in judging Rhodes here. None, you understand me? This isn't about the Accords, this isn't about some secret base in Planet Unknown. This isn't about saving Bucky Barnes. This is about Rhodes deciding to keep his best friend safe and if he thinks that this is the way he can, then he has every damned right to do so. You think you, hell any of us will be able to be in Tony's presence without triggering an extreme reaction out of him right now? You think he doesn't have enough problems, enough to sort out, that he needs us to encroach into his safe space? The man will have the worst days to welcome and you want to what, be a glaring reminder in his face that he came to this situation because of a fight between friends? Between his own team-mates? Whatever mistakes he made and whatever you think he made, he doesn't deserve that. We chose to do this, we chose to go to Siberia. We chose to not tell him about our suspicions when we could have. And now suddenly when we're being asked to explain ourselves and stay in a place,  _which isn't the fucking Raft or a prison_ , that will help us in getting a chance to fight our problems legally, you want to be treated like an Avenger royalty? You want Rhodes to allow us to talk to Tony at a time when he isn't even completely okay? Screw you, Barton, Tony is your friend too. Or at least was for a long time. Forget that, if the same thing had happened to Natasha or Wanda, if one of them had been in Stark's situation, would you have allowed it?"

Sam didn't give Clint a chance to counter and simply continued, but a little bit more subdued, glancing at Steve too.

"You don't know what it's like. Well, some of you do, but still. To watch someone who trusts you, who is your partner and best friend - to watch them fall right in front of you and to simply watch it without being able to stop anything? You cannot know what Rhodey has seen or been in. With me and Riley, I never got a chance to do anything. With Rhodes, he still has a chance to keep Stark safe and screw you if you think he's being 'unfair' or shit for taking that," he breathed in and looked at Steve calmly, "Steve, the closest thing I can think of is how you should have felt when you saw Bucky fall all that time ago. Tell me you wouldn't do what Rhodes is doing right now if you were in his position."

"You're right," Steve said without hesitation because this was one point he would never refute. Sam's shoulders lost a bit of their tension and Steve cut a look at Clint, thinking that he would need to convince the man but Clint was having a silent eye-conversation with Natasha and the archer looked more uncomfortable than defiant. He let them work it out on their own and turned back to Sam, walking up to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Sam, you're right. I was just lost in -- we'll do this. We will."

"For once not punching your way out, Steve?" Natasha asked dryly, easily looking away from a little shame-faced Clint to raise an eyebrow at Steve. Steve simply smiled slightly and nodded in acquiescence .

"Wanda? What do you say?" Steve turned to ask the younger girl but Wanda simply stared ahead with a blank face. Clint, who was across the floor, frowned in concern and came beside her, crouching in front of her before placing a hand on her shoulder. 

"Hey, Wanda, you alright?" he asked softly and shared a look with Steve when she refused to respond but then Wanda brushed his hand off calmly, before getting up and walking away in the direction of the ladies' room. Natasha shared a glance with both Clint and Steve before following her.

"You guys are really dramatic," Scott piped up and everyone looked at him but he simply shrugged, "What? Nobody's told you that before?"

Sam huffed out something that sounded like a chuckle and rolled his eyes at Steve but Steve caught the tiredness in his eyes.

He simply nodded and shot a glance in the direction that Nat and Wanda had gone in. He wondered if the mess would ever stop rolling down and how many more people it would take into its exhaustion.

*********

"What do you mean by that?" Rhodey asked skeptically as he sat across the table in Dr. Herbert's office, discussing Tony's condition and discharge.

"I mean exactly what I said, Colonel," the older man said, "No more stress. At least not till we can ascertain his trauma completely. An injury of this magnitude can be extremely traumatic, as you very well know. To add to that, this is Tony Stark we're talking about. He will be forced to stay away from his prized armor, which will only add to his stress. I recommend that you try not to pile on any more additional stress or shocks at the moment."

"Dr. Herbert, there are a lot of things he'd want to know about. A lot of things he  _needs_ to know about," Rhodey countered with a shake of his head, "You cannot honestly expect me to keep it all from him."

"I don't expect that," the doctor shook his head not unkindly, "but I also want to inform you of the potential for danger here. Mr. Stark has been fiddling with a highly strong neuroanalysis and modification technology for quite some time now, which has weakened his mental strength and stress-handling capacity for the moment. Not to mention, his heart is not in its prime state, only worsened by this injury and the lifestyle he chooses to follow. The fact that he will be dependent for mobility now only adds on to the already overburdened state that he is. Colonel Rhodes, that man is a ticking bomb. Yes, he must have a thousand things to attend to, to know, to solve and such but from what I see and observe, I can tell you that he is in the most vulnerable of situations. One wrong move and he's going to tip over. To be put simply, he's definitely on the brink of a long coming breakdown and possibly depression. With his long-standing avoidance of getting help to avoid that, his previous issues have simply piled on and stay stagnant."

"But lying or omitting the truth will not solve this," Rhodey replied, "He'll find out things one day or the other and the sooner the better. Stretching it will only worsen things."

"Maybe, but overexposure might end things once and for all. And not in a positive way," the doctor looked apologetic at the tired look on Rhodey's face, "Colonel, I'm not trying to dissuade you from being honest. You're right, lying is never a solution. Neither is omitting the truth. But sometimes too harsh a truth said at a point when you're in no position to digest it might not be a wise choice."

The doctor paused and leaned forward, a small understanding smile on his face.

"Rhodes, I've known Mr. Stark for quite some time now and as a friend, all I'm saying is that you should think about all the consequences before you make any move right now," he said as calmly as possible, "I'm neither encouraging nor discouraging anything here. I'm simply being transparent of all the information I have and what I see. The decisions will be yours and his, not mine. Whatever you choose to do, I can only offer to help in ways that I can. The rest is on your shoulders."

Rhodey thought about it before nodding once, not voicing his decision or opinion.

"I am recommending a list of therapists, both physical and psychological," the doctor continued, "By my experience with Tony, I'm pretty dubious about him using the latter, so I'm giving it to you. He might seem okay but I think we both know that he'll need some help. Try and see if you can get him to agree to getting some."

"I'll see which doctor can handle him without running," Rhodey replied with a small smirk and the doctor nodded with a knowing smile.

"Good. Now, his discharge papers are ready and the schedule of the next steps are there in the file," the doctor handed over a file to Rhodey, "Good luck and take care, both of you."

"Thanks doc," Rhodey nodded and got up to leave.

"Rhodes?"

Rhodey paused at the door and turned around.

"Whatever happens, let him know that people still think he's a hero," the doctor said, gesturing towards a picture on his table that had his daughter wearing an Iron Man costumed dress.

"He always will be, Doc," Rhodey replied with a soft nod before leaving the room, ready to get his best friend discharged.

*********

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not doing precaps for this story because it doesn't feel right. Please do stay tuned though and leave me your reviews? <3
> 
> Also, give me your predictions: Will Rhodey reveal the secret of Siberia immediately or will he choose another way?


End file.
